Button-sewing attachments



1955 c. G. BAEHR ET AL 2,735,387

BUTTON-SEWING ATTACHMENTS Filed June 27, 1952 52 in van 2 0115 50 Car/ G. fiaekr United States Patent 2,735,387 BUTTON-SEWING ATTACHMENTS Carl G. Baehr, West Haven, and John Connors, Hamden,

Conn., assignors to The Greist Manufacturing Company, New Haven, Conn, a corporation of Connecticut Application June 27, 1952, Serial No. 295,956 6 Claims. (Cl. 112-115) This invention relates to a sewing machine attachment and more particularly to a device for sewing buttons upon material which can be readily attached to the usual household sewing machines.

In general the device comprises a frame adapted to be attached to the presser bar of the usual sewing machine, and a button holder or carrier is pivoted to the frame for oscillation about its pivotal point so that the needle will sew first through one eye and then the other of a pair of spaced eyes or openings in the button. In other words, the mechanism is much like that of the so-called zigzag attachment except that the pivoted lever or foot member is adapted to support the button and move it laterally, the material to which the button is being sewed moving with the button as the latter is connected to the material.

Means are provided for adjusting the throw of the lever so as to accommodate buttons of different sizes in which the spacing or distance between the eyes or holes in the button may vary. It will be found, however, that the variation in this spacing is very small even when there is a considerable difference in the size of the button. Also means are provided to adjust the stand of the button or the distance that the finished button will be spaced from the adjacent surface of the material which will, of course, depend upon whether the button is tobe used upon light or heavy material.

As indicated above, the device is adapted to make a stitch in one of the eyes or openings in the button and then the other alternately, and it is desirable that after a number of such alternate stitches have been made that the shifting of the button be discontinued and a number of stitches be made through the same opening. This is automatically done in the present instance, and at the same time if it is desired to effect additional alternate stitches, this may also be readily performed by settting the oscillating mechanism in motion again.

One object of the invention is to provide a button-sewing attachment for household sewing machines of improved construction and operation.

A further object of the invention is to provide a button-sewing attachment for household sewing machines in which the stand of the button or the looseness of the thread with which the button is sewed may be easily and readily adjusted according to the material with which the button is to be used.

A still further object of the invention is to provide a button-sewing attachment for household sewing machines which is provided with means for moving the button laterally between consecutive reciprocations of the needle bar so that a thread will be passed through one hole and then another alternately of the button and to provide alternate means for automatically discontinuing the lateral shifting of the button after a number of alternate stitches have been made.

A still further object of the invention is to provide a button-sewing attachment which may be constructed economically and which at the same time will be efficient in operation and readily usable even by those not skilled in the dressmaking art.

To these and other ends the invention consists in the novel featuers and combinations of parts to be hereinafter described and claimed.

In the accompanying drawings:

Fig. 1 is a top plan view of a button-sewing attachment embodying our invention;

Fig. 2 is an elevational view thereof, some parts being omitted for the sake of clearness;

Fig. 3 is a front elevational view of the device;

Fig. 4 is a sectional view on line 4-4 of Fig. 2;

Fig. 5 is a sectional view on line 5-5 of Fig. 3;

Fig. 6 is a perspective view of the button-holding lever or foot together with the device for adjusting the stand of the button;

Fig. 7 is a alone;

Fig. 8 is a perspective view of a supporting member for the pointed thread guide;

Fig. 9 is a perspective view of the thread guide itself; and

Fig. 10 is a diagrammatic view showing the operation of the device.

To illustrate a preferred embodiment of our invention we have shown in Fig. 1 of the drawings a buttonsewing attachment for household sewing machines having a frame of substantially U-shaped form, this frame consisting of a horizontally disposed base member 10 and spaced parallel upstanding side members 11.

Rotatably mounted in the members 11 is a shaft 12 upon which is secured a cam wheel 13 having an internal cam track 14 of wavy or undulating shape. Pivotally mounted upon the shaft 12 is the usual fork arm 15 which is provided with a bifurcated end 16 designed to be engaged over the usual needle screw on the needle bar of a household sewing machine.

Secured t0 the shaft 12 of the cam member is a ratchet wheel 17, the teeth of which are engaged by a pawl 18 pivoted at 19 on the fork arm and urged by the spring 20 into engagement with the teeth of the ratchet wheel. It will be noted that the ratchet wheel 17 is provided with a flattened spot 21 at one point in its circumfeernce formed by omitting one of the teeth. It will be obvious that upon reciprocation of the fork arm 15 the pawl will serve to rotate the ratchet wheel, the shaft 12 and the cam 13 in a step-by-step manner. However, when the pawl 18 reaches the flattened spot 21 upon the ratchet wheel rotation of the latter will be discontinued and continued reciprocation or oscillation of the fork arm will merely serve to cause the pawl 18 to ride idly along the surface 21. In order to continue rotation of the ratchet wheel, it is necessary to rotate the latter through a short are the distance of one tooth, for example, until the pawl 18 is engaged with another tooth of the wheel. This may be conveniently done by means of the knob 22 secured upon the shaft 12, this knob being shown in Figs. 1 and 3 but omitted in Fig. 2.

Pivotally mounted below the base member 10 of the frame is a button-holding or button-carrying foot 25 shown in Fig. 7. The forward end of this member is oifset downwardly as shown at 26 and provided with a slightly concaved portion or seat 27 within which the button may rest. It is also slotted at 28 to permit the needle to pass through so as to enter the material upon which the button is being sewed which liesbelow this foot.

A cam follower or roller 29 is secured to the carrier 25 at the rear end thereof and extends upwardly through a laterally elongated opening (not shown) in the base 10 to be disposed within the wavy or sinuous cam slot 14 of the cam wheel 13. Also this lever 25 is pivoted to the perspective view of the button-holding foot base by means of a pivot pin 31 adjustable in a longitudinally elongated slot 32 of the lever 25. The pin 31 also extends upwardly through an elongated slot 33 in the base member 10- so that the position of the pin may be varied and thus vary the fulcrum point about which the lever is oscillated. This will, of course, vary the throw of the lever depending upon the distance between the holes in the button.

The pin 31 is secured to a slide member 35, which member is provided with a slot 36 in which is received a headed pin 37 secured to the rear end of the base member 10. Thus this slide is adjustably or slidably secured to the base member 10 and held in place by the pins 31 and 37. The slide is provided at. its rear end with a finger piece 38 by which it may be adjusted and at one side is provided with a flange 39 having a slot 40 therein to which extends a pin 41 secured to the adjacent upstanding member 11 of the base. A nut 42 is threaded upon the screw 41. It may be tightened to hold the slide 35 in any adjusted position.

The lever 25 is provided with a laterally extending arm .43 having a groove 44 in the under side thereof and a supporting member, shown in Fig. 8, is adjustably mounted on this arm. This supporting member is of L-shaped form and provided with a base portion 45 of substantially U-shaped form, the lower leg of the base member being provided with a longitudinally extending rib or bead 47 which fits into the recess 44. It will be understood that this supporting member is of light sheet. metal so as to be resilient and that the bead 47 will by its inherent resiliency frictionally clamp against the member 43 so that while it may be freely moved rearwardly and forwardly with respect to the member 43, it will remain in any adjusted position.

This supporting member is also provided with an upstanding guideway 48 of substantially U-shaped cross section in which guideway the rear upstanding reversely curved end 49 of a thread guide 50 is slidably mounted. As the thread guide is adapted to extend over the slot 28 in the lever 25 the end portion 50 is connected with the portion 49 by a laterally extending portion 51 and an inclined portion 52. The part 49 of the thread guide is reversely curved so that it is of U-shaped form and fits snugly and frictionally Within the guide member 48 so that while it may be moved upwardly and downwardly in the guide member, it will remain in any position to which it has been adjusted.

It will be noted that the end 50 of the guide member is tapered in form, being larger at its rear end than at its free forward end. It will, therefore, be seen that when the member 45 is adjusted forwardly and rearwardly with respect to the foot 25, this will adjust the end 50 of the thread guide and will dispose a larger or smaller portion of this guide above the button or between the button and the loop of the thread, thus adjusting the looseness of the thread and thereby adjusting the stand of the button above the material. It will also be obvious that if suflicient adjustment is not obtained by adjusting the member 50 longitudinally of the lever 25, the member 50 may be adjusted vertically with respect to the button seat 27 by moving the bowed end 49 of the thread guide upwardly or downwardly within the member 48. This will, of course, provide a much greater adjustment than moving the thread guide longitudinally, the latter being convenient for fine adjustment.

The operation of the device is shown in Fig. 10 where the needle bar of a sewing machine is represented at 53, the thread at 54, the button at 55, and the material upon which the button is being sewed at 56. As will be seen, the button is placed upon the seat 27 with the eyes or openings therein disposed laterally of the line of sewing, as shown in Fig. l, the thread guide 50 extending forwardly substantially midway between the openings in the button. It will be understood that the usual cover plate is employed to cover the feed mechanism in the bed of the machine as this feed is not employed, the material being moved only in a lateral direction. When the material and the button are in place, the slide 35 may be adjusted to adjust the lateral throw of the lever 25 so that the needle will correctly register with the openings in the button upon successive reciprocations thereof. The ratchet wheel 17 may then be rotated by the knob 22 until the pawl 18 engages the first tooth beyond the flat spot 21. The height of the thread guide 50 above the button may be adjusted either by moving this member upwardly or downwardly in the guide 48 or by moving it forwardly or rearwardly upon the arm 43. The machine is then started and, as will be apparent, the needle will make a stitch first through one opening in the button and then through the other, the button being shifted back and forth laterally of the machine between each reciprocation of the needle bar. So soon, however, as the pawl 18 reaches the hat spot 21 upon the ratchet 17, the reciprocation ofthe lever 25 will be discontinued and, if the operation of the machine is continued, a number of stitches Willbe made through one of the openings in the button. i

If the button contains four openings, the button and material may be shifted relatively to the lever 25 so that the stitches may be made through the other two holes. Also, if one revolution of the ratchet wheel 17 does not provide suificient stitches through the openings in the button, the ratchet Wheel may be advanced a distance of one tooth when the pawl reaches the flat spot 21 and the operation continued through another revolution of the ratchet wheel. 7

While we have shown and described a preferred embodiment of our invention, it will be understood that it is not to be limited to all of the details shown, but is capable of modification and variation within the spirit of theinvention and within the scope of the claims.

What we claim is:

l. A button-sewing attachment for sewing machines comprising a frame, a button carrier pivoted on the frame for oscillating movement in a substantially horizontal plane, means for oscillating said carrier including a fork arm pivoted on the frame for attachment to the needle bar of the machine, and connections between said carrier and fork arm, said carrier having a button seat thereon, and a thread-supporting finger carried by the carrier and extending over the button seat in spaced relation thereto to lie above the button on said seat, said finger being tapered in thickness and means mounting said finger on the carrier for movement toward and from the pivot point of the carrier.

2. A button-sewing attachment for sewing machines comprising a frame, a button carrier pivoted on the frame for oscillating movement in a substantially horizontal plane, means for oscillating said carrier including a fork arm pivoted on the frame for attachment to the needle bar of the machine, and connections between said carrier and form arm, said carrier having a button seat thereon, and a thread-supporting finger carried by the carrier and extending over the button seat in spaced relation thereto to lie above the button on said seat, and means mounting said linger on the carrier for vertical adjustment with respect to the carrier.

3. A button-sewing attachment for sewing machines comprising a frame, a button carrier pivoted on the frame for oscillating movement in a substantially horizontal plane, means for oscillating said carrier including a fork arm pivoted on the frame for attachment to the needle bar of the machine, and connections between said carrier and fork arm, said carrier having a button seat thereon, and a thread-supporting finger carried by the carrier and extending over the button seat in spaced relation thereto to lie above the button on said seat, and means mounting said finger on the carrier for vertical adjustment with respect to said seat and for adjustment toward and from the pivot of the carrier.

4. A button-sewing attachment for sewing machines comprising a frame, a button carrier pivoted on the frame for oscilla g movement in a substantially horizontal plane, means for oscillating said carrier including a fork arm pivoted on the frame for attachment to the needle bar of the machine, and connections between said carrier and fork arm, said carrier having a button seat thereon and an arm projecting laterally therefrom, a supporting member slidably mounted on said arm and a thread-supporting finger carried by said member for adjustment longitudinally of the carrier and extending forwardly over the button seat.

5. A button-sewing attachment for sewing machines comprising a frame, a button carrier pivoted on the frame for oscillating movement in a substantially horizontal plane, means for oscillating said carrier including a fork arm pivoted on the frame for attachment to the needle bar of the machine, and connections between said carrier and fork arm, said carrier having a button seat thereon and an arm projecting laterally therefrom, a finger holder, means slidably mounting said holder on said carrier arm and a tapered thread-supporting finger carried by said holder and extending forwardly over the button seat, said finger being tapered in a vertical plane.

6. A button-sewing attachment for sewing machines comprising a frame, a button carrier pivoted on the frame for oscillating movement in a substantially horizontal plane, means for oscillating said carrier including a fork arm pivoted on the frame for attachment to the needle bar of the machine, and connections between said carrier and fork arm, said carrier having a button seat thereon and an arm projecting laterally therefrom, a finger holder mounted on said arm for adjustment longitudinally of the carrier, a thread-supporting finger carried by said holder and extending forwardly over the button seat, and means mounting said finger on said holder for vertical adjustment relatively thereto to vary its distance from the seat.

References Cited in the file of this patent UNITED STATES PATENTS 1,194,873 Peiersen Aug. 15, 1916 1,824,564 Otto Sept. 22, 1931 1,830,398 Maashofi et al. Nov. 3, 1931 1,915,830 Lyons June 27, 1933 2,291,855 Wilcox Aug. 4, 1942 2,482,607 Almquist Sept. 20, 1949 2,513,633 Folsom July 4, 1950 FOREIGN PATENTS 455,619 Italy Mar. 9, 1950 18,114 Great Britain 1899 

